My doctor says try to avoid the hospital?

Hes a pretty good pdoc but says its very bad in the hospital. I dont know if he means all hospitals or what. He also says to only go if your an immediate threat to self. Im more of a dysfunctional type/up and down with symptoms. I only think about the hospital once in a while. My doc/others say it should be last last resort.

You could ask him if he specifically means that the hospital(s) near where you live are particularly bad, or if he means inpatient hospitalization in general.

There's an in-between option called IOP (Intensive Outpatient Program) which is sort of like being in the hospital during the daytime (lots of therapy sessions and frequent access to a pdoc) but you go home at night.

I've done IOP twice when my depression was extremely severe and my pdoc couldn't get my meds adjusted to help.

In the area where I live, the psychiatric portion of my local hospital is good, but the state psych hospital is not so good (way understaffed, mostly.) I know someone who went there and he said he was there for a whole week before he ever saw a psychiatrist or therapist.

I've only gone inpatient one time. It was not a bad experience - I got a lot of help there. It was very confining, though. You're on their schedule, you eat what's available, you go to therapy on a schedule, you may not be allowed to nap if you feel like you need to, you have to stay in bed between certain hours even if you can't sleep.

We weren't allowed to have phones or use razors in the hospital where I went, although I gather from what people post on PC that that's not typical.

If you're extremely ill, those limitations probably won't be bothersome to you. I think it would be more helpful if your doctor explained what inpatient is like and describe more specifically (in his opinion) under what circumstances you'd want and need to go there.

It's not helpful if a patient is terrified of going inpatient. It can keep you from getting the kind of help you need.

I wouldn't say it's "very bad" in the hospital, but it's definitely a "know when you really need it" situation.

Psych wards won't take you unless they deem you an immediate threat to yourself or others. Beds are too limited to do otherwise.

If you are not in that state of mind, I do think it's possible being in the hospital would do more harm than good. It's not a vacation and there are unpleasant aspects to it.

But if ever do feel like you are a threat to yourself, please talk to your pdoc about it before you decide yes or no. In the right circumstances, the hospital can help and may even save your life.

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hospitals are not as bad as they use to be. i know this from being in from 1987 on. i was admitted a few times throughout those years, an there is definately a big change.

I so agree with this for me personally (but this is partly because of ridiculously severe allergies... )

I've had a couple of p-docs over the years tell me to avoid the hospital if at all possible. I've always thought it was a weird thing to say.

It is a little weird. I agree with jo_thorne that it isn't helpful to make clients scared of the hospital. Then they might not get help when they need it most.

Perhaps they are trying to ensure people don't see it as something to do on a whim? I have met the occasional person who seems to think the psych ward would be like a spa retreat or something. It is definitely not that.

But the ER intake people generally weed out people they don't think really need it...so again I come back to it not really being helpful to spread fear. *shrug*

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I can see where your Dr. is coming from. My Dr. always tells me that his primary job is to keep me out of the hospital, and that it's only a last resort.

I've been IP 3 times, at the same hospital. It's a dedicated psych hospital that has different units based on illness & acuity of illness.

My first two times were amazing - lots of therapy, regular contact with pdocs, and relatively reasonable restrictions on what we could / couldn't have and when we could leave etc.

My third time I ended up in the General Psychiatric Unit or GPU for short until another bed could be found for me in another unit. It was a nightmare. No therapy, very little private space, we couldn't close our room doors at night so other patients would wander in and out. There were patients who were obviously psychotic who talked non stop, and most people were there on involuntary holds, so it was a locked unit. I was there 5 days and left in worse shape than I arrived. Then I got transfered to a good unit.

splitimage

Yes, avoid it if you can...and if you can think about this, making this decision, you probably can find another way to stay safe without having to go to the hospital.

Hospitals and lock-up stays are very traumatic and can "easily" make a patient worse.

The ONLY real reason to go to one is if you KNOW you will kill yourself or someone else unless someone locks you up. That is a thin line imo because if you can determine that you do have enough control to stay out.

Once in lock up you're there for a short time, just long enough to run the system, run up the bill and go through your insurance and not long enough for any long lasting therapy. You aren't treated like normal human being, you line up for medication and your mouth is checked to be sure you swallowed it---but before that you have to wait for the psychiatrist to evaluate you and determine the medication (even if you have a consulting shrink, it's still a process) You might wander around without ANY medication or help for a FEW DAYS before the psychiatrist sees you. Then it will take more time for the prescription to get to and be filled by the pharmacy and sent back up to the floor for you to take.

And you will meet other patients that are worse than you...and you'll watch as they act out and the staff re-acts... .... you are locked out of your room (which you will share with a stranger) when you are "supposed" to be some where else...where THEY want you to be. You can't watch tv anytime you want, you can't use the phone, you won't have your computer or smart phone... they search all your luggage and sometimes your body so you don't take any "sharps" in with you to do harm... and if you are on suicide watch they come around every 15 minutes or so to check on you. Often this is a cursory look as they can appear to really not care about the patients, they just want their paycheck.

Ok... now how do you feel about keeping yourself safe at home?

I just wanted to clarify for the OP that some of the specifics you're describing don't apply to all hospitals. It varies, and if the OP is interested in the specific policies of the hospitals around them they should discuss it with their pdoc.

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The hospital should be the last resort. I think it is best to deal with your illness out in the real world as much as possible.

Some people don't do well in hospital at all. Some even become dependent on it for support which isn't healthy.

Hospitalization can be traumatic. I've been in a few psychiatric units and found them to be unpleasant places. All the bad behavior, violent outbursts, and abrupt staff (nurses, orderlies, even psychiatrists) hurt me. There wasn't much privacy. One time a nurse walked in on me while I was using the toilet. Stealing is also common.

I can still remember the young girl who would have outbursts regularly that disrupted the entire unit. Orderly codes were always called on her. It was such a relief when she was discharged. Another patient decided to threaten her life outside the Emergency Department. A few times I have witnessed patients teaching others how to hurt themselves. Stuff like this doesn't help especially if you are sensitive.

If you need to stay in hospital get your psychiatrist to admit you. It is a lot better than going through the Emergency Department. Psych services there are usually terrible.

i haven't been ip since high school, but i know from the few details my mom was willing to share with me that they're awful. they treat patients more like an unruly herd of cattle than people. and just because psych hospitals aren't still using bloodletting or locking us up in straightjackets in padded cells for days on end doesn't mean there's not still abuse of power. honestly i don't think i'll ever forget the first time i saw someone get the "booty juice."

An in-patient psych unit exists mainly for the purpose of providing supervision for people who are temporarily a danger to themselves, or others. In the latter case, it is getting more common for people to be shunted to jail. It's not a place set up to provide a lot of comforting to people in emotional pain. (Unless you've got the money to go to some pricey private facility.) A lot of the population that is in and out of psych hospitals and the psych units of regular hospitals are not the pleasantest people to be around. Your doctor is right to caution you against looking for something in a psych hospital that isn't there to be found.

I've been inpatient a few times. I found there was absolutely nothing going on in psych units that was going to improve how I was feeling. It's a lot closer to being in jail than you might expect. Each time I went in, I left even more upset and depressed leaving than I was when they admitted me. One time it did lead to me getting hooked up with some intensive out-patient care, and that was so worth it. Try to get into a partial hispitalization program, if you can. What needs to happen for your life to get better isn't going to happen in a hospital setting. That's just a holding pen.

I have been IP six times, I think? Only because I was actively suicidal. My pdoc wants to keep me as healthy as possible but wouldn't discourage hospitalization if I was very sick and not responding to meds. He says sometimes the doctors may think of a med combo that may be better for me, I will get away from IRLstressors to stabilize, etc.

All that said...I don't ever want to go IP again. Psych hospitals vary and I went to one that was pretty good...and others not so good. I have a lot of anxiety so the lack of privacy and confined quarters with other patients make me nervous. I rarely can eat the food. My last stay was four days and I gave all my food away to the other patients. Nurses seem a bit snippy probably because they are busy, staff on the unit are nice and supportive, pdocs rarely meet with you for more than 10-15 minutes, therapy can be great or totally absent...it just depends on the hospital. And I'm referring to my experiences to private, for-profit hospitals.

Hope that doesn't scare you off, that's not my intent. My boyfriend and I both have bipolar disorder and are med-compliant, don't use drugs or drink, and do the best we can. If one of us is suicidal or extremely psychotic, as long as we can be taken care of by the other at home that's what we do. Also, my pdoc will see me on the same day if I am doing poorly. Sometimes even within the hour. So that's a major plus.

If you are lacking a support system and can't get to your pdoc ASAP...voluntarily checking into the hospital is NOT a bad thing. It's no picnic, but sometimes we just need it for stabilization.

Thanks. I had never heard that term 'booty juice.'